Language issues
by Tilith
Summary: When Beast Boy gets bullied by two other team members, he looks out for the help of a dark empath. Because languages can cause some real issues... BBxRae; rated T because it also fits with me ;-P


_Hey dudes and dudettes! Another one-shot? Hell yeah! Enjoy and SMILE!  
_

**Language issues **

He really had it, he couldn't bear it anymore, so he got to his last resort. Even if it wasn't certain that he would get the help he so desperately needed, he was at least willing to try. Of course he was very nervous at the thought of his task but between facing this and living on the way he did now, he would choose the first option. He knocked on the door he stood in front and called: "Raven! Open up, it's me!"

After a few minutes, while he already started to doubt, that the dark empath would be in her room, the door slid open and gave away the sight of an as usual annoyed Raven.

"What do you want, Beast Boy?" she asked looking up to him. It was only since a few months, that he had finally hit his growth spur and surpassed three of his team members. While Raven as the now smallest of the team bore it with dignity, Star didn't bother about the matter, but Robin despised Beast Boy for being taller than him. That had probably been one reason, why he had started picking on him… Besides, Raven liked the way he looked now very much, though she would never admit.

"Rae, I really need your help!"

She checked him out from head to toe, clearly smirking at the sight. He was completely covered in orange paint, courtesy of their leader and their half-robot friend.

"Want me to add some black stripes, Garfield? Or should I first treat you to lasagna?"

"It's not funny, Rae!" he fumed.

She grinned a little wickeder, before she snapped her fingers and made the paint disappear. Her magical skills had impressively improved over the years, even without a dragon teaching her.

"Don't wet yourself. It's already removed, see?"

"Thanks, but that's not the thing I wanted to ask you to help me with", he stated still a bit offended. But he knew he had to behave, if he wanted to get her help. Why was it always so hard for him to get along with her? Wasn't it enough that her presence made him always a bit fidgety?

"Spill already. I was in the middle of meditating, before you knocked."

He grabbed her hands in his and begged: "Can you please teach me Tamaran?"

"W-what?" she stuttered in surprise. Her heart beat slightly faster at his sudden closeness, surely because she was caught unprepared, she mused.

"Can you teach me Tamaran, please? Pretty, pretty please?" he now almost pleaded.

"Why on earth do you want to learn Tamaran? And why won't you ask Starfire for that?" He dropped her hands and his head in defeat.

"She won't teach me, because she swore it to her beloved boyfriend. He and Cyborg won't quit bugging me with it, since they both know it. I just had it with their language related pranks" he explained bitterly.

"What do you mean by language related pranks?" Raven inquired. She had been cooped up in her room more than usual due to a certain emotional instability she wasn't ready to share with her friends. She wasn't even sure if she would ever be ready, she wasn't even able to figure out the reason for it, but it was the reason why she was unaware of Beast Boys current suffering.

"Giving me important instructions in Tamaran, so I screw up, like last week in training and feel like a looser per example. Or making warning signs in Tamaran, so I run into their traps like before into the one with orange paint and they just ask me, why I didn't read the sign. Or they talk to each other only in Tamaran and I don't get a word, then they laugh at me or ask me something and I just answer them, because they don't speak to me anymore otherwise and then they make fun of me again, because it had no relation or was a trick question. Or…"

"Alright, I get the picture. But I'm sorry, Beast Boy, I can't teach you. I don't know Tamaran either" she said in her monotone, but with a hint of regret in her voice.

He sunk his shoulders and looked like the world would end.

"You… you don't?"

"I'm sorry. Just try to ignore them; they will stop sooner or later."

"Yeah, sure. They will stop as soon as Cyborg starts to get bored of pranks and Robin will grow taller than me…" he responded sarcastically.

She lifted an eyebrow. "Come on, Beast Boy, there is at least a chance that Robin will soon outgrow you."

"I doubt that. I already grew another three inches just this week, while I saw Rob measuring himself getting the same result as the last months. But maybe they will get tired of it…" he said with no conviction to his own words, turning around and leaving.

"Sorry I disturbed you, Rae…" She felt guilty as he walked away, because she couldn't help him in the way he wanted, and sorry for him sensing his pain and loneliness.

"Beast Boy" she called so he turned to her once again, "if you feel too lonely, you know you can always come and see me, okay?"

He smiled weakly at her and replied: "Thank you, Rae, it means really a lot to me. I'll go and take a shower now; it still feels like the paint sticks on me though you removed it…"

She watched him dragging himself back to his room and decided that she would at least try to talk to the two culprits. Apparently Beast Boy really suffered from the current situation and he was her friend after all. Plus it seemed a bit harsh in her eyes to pick on him just because he had grown. In the back of her room she heard something explode and she cursed Robin and Cyborg for making her unstable again by picking on a certain changeling.

* * *

When she got to the common room door, she saw a sign with tamaran letters on it. She couldn't decipher the meaning to it, so she carefully entered. It turned out that this had been a big mistake… As soon as she had passed the door step, she was hit in her face by an orange, slimy, sticky mass.

Her anger tried to burst out, but she held it in while she whipped the glibber off her face.

"Who was stupid enough to play such an idiotic prank on me?" she asked with gritted teeth.

Robin and Cyborg whom were sitting on the couch laughed hard at her but what they said she couldn't understand a bit.

"What?" she asked still angered.

Robin gasped between two laughters: "You should have read the sign…" Then they both talked again in what must have been Tamaran laughed their heads off.

"Can you talk a language I can understand?" she stated fuming. Then Starfire flew in and squeeled in horror.

"Oh, friend Raven, I am so sorry for the misconduct of friend Cyborg and boyfriend Robin! I suppose you became their victim too?"

"Come on, Star! It was just for fun! Rae isn't taking it serious, right?" Cyborg interrupted and whipped off a laugh tear from the corner of his eye.

Robin came to his aid: "Yeah, it's all between friends. No hard feelings!"

"Sure," she stated sarcastically, "I guess this wasn't aimed at me in the first place anyway…"

"Nah, we wanted to give the green bean the right clothing getting along with his new color complexion," Cyborg snickered.

"Aren't you two a bit too picky on him lately?" Raven asked and picked some orange slime out of her hair.

Robin raised an eyebrow (as far as Raven could judge, this was what he did behind his mask): "Are you growing soft on him?"

She crossed her arms over her chest and took a defensive stand, but she was thankful that her hood was up to hide her slight blush. Another bookshelf blew up in her room.

"No, I still like to torture him; I just don't like to hit someone when he is already on the floor. I like to see him fall over and over again, but when he is as deep down in a pit as now, he can't fall anywhere. That is annoying for me."

"So, you say we ruined one of your favorite leisure?" Cyborg questioned with a certain quirk in his smile Raven didn't like at all.

Robin jumped right in.

"Maybe we should help you make your now free time pass?" he asked with a wicked and most un-Robin-like grin.

"What are you two up to?" she wondered wary.

The boys exchanged a look before their leader responded: "Would you like to learn Tamaran?"

She looked at them startled. Did they really want her to do what she suspected them?

"Yeah, Rae, if you join us, we could make you see how deep he still can fall…" Cyborg tempted.

Starfire whimpered at the thought and escaped the room, before they could ask her to teach another team member her native language for evil purposes. Meanwhile the dark empath glared at her team mates on the couch.

"No, thanks. Like I said, I don't beat someone who is already down."

"Careful, Raven. You can choose now, if you want to be on his side or the winners' side…" Robin responded with a threatening tone in his voice.

"So this is about winning something?" she inquired.

"Rather about teaching the grass stain lesson," the half-metal man declared.

"Yeah. He deserves it!" Robin added.

She huffed: "Just what sort of crime has he committed?"

The young men on the couch exchanged another glance, before their leader started to explain.

"You remember how he bragged around because he got chosen as the hottest male hero under thirty at Hero People Magazine two weeks ago? Apparently, he had inspired the redaction to write such an article…" he said with a frown.

"And?" she asked, still not getting the point.

"Well, suddenly he gets first place! Hello! He surely had bribed them somehow! I mean, look at him, he is green! And there are Robin and me too! Who with a sane mind would declare him more attractive then both of us?" Cyborg fumed.

"Are there any proof that he bribed them or is this just because you two are underestimating him as usual?" Raven smirked, already knowing the answer. She remembered perfectly well how genuinely surprised and overjoyed Beast Boy had been at the announcement of the Magazine. Surely the other two were just plainly jealous. She could handle this with talking to them.

"Um, no, we couldn't find any proof but seriously, Raven, no one thinks he is handsome, left alone hot!" Robin disagreed.

Cyborg just snickered: "Except of Star, who declared the morning the article was out, that he had become really gorgeous…"

"Sure, but hadn't it been Bee who had agreed that she wouldn't say no if he would ask her to tame his beast?" he shot right back.

"He will pay for this…" the tin-man grumbled. Now Raven could imagine the core of the problem.

"Let me put this straight: when he won that stupid title you both where trying to ruin it for him, but both of your girlfriends contradicted and that is why you are angry enough to bully him to no end?"

"Not to no end, Rae! Just until he breaks down and cries like a little girl…" Cyborg said vicious.

"Exactly! And then he has to make the magazine deny their former decision and put it back instantly!" Robin added with an evil grin.

"You are disgusting," Raven spat and left the common room in a hurry.

Why did they want to hurt Beast Boy so much? He was their friend too, right? And why had Starfire agreed to let help them this far?

Deep in thoughts Raven rounded the corner and bumped into someone's broad chest causing her almost to fall over wouldn't she have been caught by her shoulders from the other one.

"I'm sorry, Rae! Are you all right?" Beast Boy asked, "Woa, what the hell happened to you?"

She looked up to him wondering why her heart suddenly started to beat so fast while he held her and slowed only a notch down now that he released her again. In the process she had taken in the scent of his shower gel and found it rather pleasing.

"Um, no problem, thank you for catching me before I fell…"

"You're welcome. But why are you covered in orange goo?"

She looked down on herself and noticed some remaining stains from the former incident.

"I guess I got into a trap that was settled for you…" she stated evenly.

To her utter surprise, he went rather desperate and started to apologize: "I'm so sorry, Rae! Come on, I'll wash it off." Then he took her hand, what made her slightly blush and dragged her along to the bathroom.

"Beast Boy, don't worry, it wasn't your doing…" she tried to calm him.

"But it wasn't meant to harm you!" he replied without slowing down.

"I'm not harmed! See?" Raven turned him towards her, making him stand still and holding on to his shoulders now.

He looked ashamed of himself as he lowered his head and said: "But you're stained because of me… It should have been me…"

"Don't beat yourself up for something that wasn't your fault. And besides, I can clean it in no time!" she replied and snapped her fingers, cleaning herself up with the same spell she had used on her green friend before but had been too distracted to use it earlier on herself.

He stole a glance at her, then nodded but still looked down. Something inside her just broke at this sight and she made a decision.

"Beast Boy, this has to stop!" she stated determined.

He finally lifted his head and met her eyes. For some reason it gave them both a queer feeling in the stomach, but none of them would admit.

"What do you mean?" he asked uncertain.

"They are definitely bullying you and I want to end it."

First he stared just at her, then he suddenly pulled her in a tight hug while grinning widely and shouting: "Thank you, Rae! You don't know how much this means to me."

Apparently this was when he realized what he was doing. He immediately let go of her as he was red as a beet and checked out the floor again. If he would have looked up, he would have noticed that Raven wore a hue of pink on her cheeks as well from this incident.

After a moment of silence he dared to speak again.

"Uhm, soo, how do you plan to, um, stop them?"

"We beat them with their own weapons…" she grinned vicious enough to give him goose bumps all over his body. He was glad he had her on his side and not against him. He almost felt pity for his two friends, but only until he thought of the orange stains Raven had had on herself minutes ago, then returned her smile with an equal amount of venom. Raven found this new smile rather appealing on him.

* * *

Beast Boy felt awkward as he sat in the middle of Ravens room, watching her floating around for scrolls and books apparently having a plan in her mind which she wasn't ready to share with him yet. It had been a long time ago that he had been in her room and it was surely the very first time to be allowed inside of it. He never would have expected to even be allowed to her room in his life. Still he was surprised how very messy it seemed, even compared to his own room.

Finally she settled herself in front of him and placed the reading material in between.

"As I said, we'll beat them with their own weapons. If they are using a language you don't understand to pick on you, we will use a language they don't know to pay them back…" she started explaining.

"So I don't need to learn Tamaran?" he asked hopeful.

"Well, no, but…" she tried to proceed.

"Cool! It's a shame I can't teach you any animal language because I only can speak them in the current animal form. But maybe you know French or Spanish or Portuguese?"

She looked at him puzzled. Did he know these languages or was he joking with her?

But he didn't stop there: "Or Hindi or Lingala or Kikongo? I could even come up with a little bit Fang if needed, but I'm not that good at this one..." he mused.

"Wait. Are you trying to tell me that you actually know all these languages? Or whatever Fang is supposed to be…" she asked with her mouth agape.

He blushed and grinned sheepishly at her: "Well, you see, I told you about my parents traveling around with me, right? Well, I had to adapt at some point… And Rita wanted me to cultivate my language abilities or something like that, so she helped me train them a little more, as long as I was part of the Doom Patrol… Oh and Fang is an official language, it's used in Gabon and the Republic of Congo. I'm surprised you don't know."

Ravens jaw dropped almost onto the floor and her eyes had grown to the size of plates. Beast Boy was polyglot and she didn't even notice? Plus he knew languages she didn't and even one she never even had heard of?

"Um, Rae, is everything okay with you?" he asked timidly. Apparently he had shattered her image of him now; he just hoped she still would be his friend even now he had revealed himself as some kind of nerd…

She pulled herself together and responded: "Yeah, sure. I just… needed to process the thought that you actually really seem to have a brain and you even use it from time to time…"

"Hey!" he exclaimed slightly offended, although he wasn't sure if this was meant to be a compliment. Still he was relieved that she didn't just walk away now that she knew.

"Anyways, as impressive as this is, it won't help us much in our case."

He looked at her a bit deceived. "Oh. Why?"

"I guess history isn't your strong point, but it can help us in this situation. Do you know how the Allies in Second World War communicated without letting Japan any chance to decipher?"

Despite the fact she had offended him again, his history knowledge maybe was a bit flawed but still useful enough (or so he thought), he asked her: "How?"

"They let Navajo Indians do the information transmissions. They used a language only those who already knew the language could decipher. There was nothing written the enemy could use to crack the code, they even didn't know what language it was…"

"So we need a language that can't be learned by outsiders or Cyborg will learn it in no time…" he pondered. He really was a quick thinker, if he wanted to, Raven thought. She liked his intelligent side, she had just come to discover.

"Exactly," she said, "So, I was thinking I'd teach you a language that isn't of earthly knowledge too, that for other extraterrestrials is unknown and even the most of the original native population forgot about."

Beast Boy shivered in anticipation as he asked: "You know such a language? Which one is it?"

Raven certainly knew how to build up tension if she wanted to.

"Ancient Azarathian."

For a few Minutes he just stared at her. She couldn't be serious to teach him her own native language. That would be really… intimate, right?

Finally he spoke up: "Rae, I'm really honored but… is it really okay for you? I mean, that's a rather personal matter, isn't it? You told us once that you where raised by the monks with it…"

Raven felt touched by his concern and gave him one of her rare soft smiles.

"Don't worry, Beast Boy, I thought about it and I came to the result, that it would be worth it. Plus it will be nice to speak with someone in my native language again. But I must warn you, if you make fun of my language, you'll have to face my wrath!"

He lifted a hand and swore: "I'll behave, I promise!" Maybe he could even become closer with her while getting his revenge on their two team mates.

"Then let's first start with the letters…" she said convinced. She already looked forward to spend more time with a not-annoying Beast Boy for a change.

* * *

"Argh, I'll never get it right!" Beast Boy shouted angry at himself, "Why do I have to be so stupid!"

"Calm down, Beast Boy. You need to be more patient with yourself. I needed a whole year to learn all seventy-seven letters!" Raven tried to comfort him.

"Yeah, but you were what, two years old?" he pouted, "I just don't get why it takes me so long…"

"Three days is long for you?" she inquired.

For the past few days they had almost non-stop stayed in Ravens realm, trying to teach Beast Boy Ancient Azarathian. The few occasions they had taken a break to go outside her room to eat something, they usually had gotten pranked by Robin and Cyborg. At least criminal rate was currently low, so they didn't need to go on missions and could concentrate on learning. The sooner Beast Boy knew the new language the better. But he was sometimes a bit too impatient with himself, like in this moment.

"Well, I learned the basics of Spanish in three days; it shouldn't be that hard… I mean, all right, they use the same letters and I already knew Portuguese but still…" he muttered to himself.

Raven had to admit to herself how impressive his language talent was to her.

"How come you are usually so fast at learning a language, but you still can't understand tamaran?" she wondered genuinely interested.

"Well, you see, being able to turn into any thinkable animal leaves you obliged to learn as fast as possible their language to fully being able to be that animal. I guess it's kind of a side effect to my powers. Although human languages are usually more complex I'm rather fast at adapting to them as well, the only condition is, I got to be exposed to the culture of the language with natives of the language, you know, like as if I would become one of them…" he explained.

"Wait. When we were at Tokyo, there were several days on which you almost only hung out with Japanese girls, so you can speak Japanese now?" she inquired unbelieving.

He gave it a thought. "Maybe… Tell me a sentence I shall translate in Japanese!"

"Uhm, how about… I want an herbal tea?"

"Watashi wa hābutī ni shitai. Oh, it worked. You're right, I know Japanese now…" he said genuinely surprised.

She quickly checked in a dictionary she had bought back then in Tokyo and responded: "It's right. Wow. That means you are almost as gifted with languages as Starfire. So if you would stay for a while in Tamaran, you would be able to learn that as well?"

"Yeah, as well as being in Azarath with the Azaratian Monks to learn Ancient Azarathian, why?" he wondered.

She gave him an affectionate slap on the back of his head and got up.

"Hey, what was that for?" he objected.

"We wasted three days forcing you to learn how children learn, but you are a seventeen year old hero with special language learning abilities. So you should learn it your way," she answered.

He gave her a puzzled look, as she was floating around in her room for several ingredients and ritual items.

"You mean we are going to Tamaran? Or to Azarath?" he asked.

She glanced at him and smiled. She really liked when he thought along.

"Both, Beast Boy. To make it perfect we'll go to both of them", she smirked while setting up the rite.

"Um, Rae, just one question. How will we explain it to the others? I mean, it will certainly take a while, don't you think? I mean… I'll need probably a week or two for each language…"Gar objected. Of course she had given it a thought as well, so she answered: "Don't worry. It's interstellar and interdimensional traveling through magical portals. The continuation of time usually gets interrupted in the process. So even if it will take us a few months, here on earth only a few hours will pass until we'll return…"

"Cool! But, Rae…" he continued with his concerns, while she was adding some herbs in a bowl.

"What?" she interrupted patiently. Somehow, he annoyed her, but in the same time made her feel at ease. How strange…

"What will you do in the meantime? I mean, in Azarath you can stick around because you're a native, but in Tamaran we won't be able to see each other much or I won't be able to learn…", Gar pointed out, fidgeting with his fingers.

"The Tamaran Palace of the royal family withholds a unique assortment of rare writings in the magical resort. I think, I'll read until you are ready to go to Azarath. It's rather convenient for me."

"Oh. I'll miss you at Tamaran" he mumbled with his lowered head. Raven almost dropped the potion she held and he quickly added, as he realized, that she had heard him: "Um, I mean… um… no one around to throw me out of the window if I'd do something stupid… hehehe…"

She gave him a magical slap with her powers, which made him yelp and made her smile gently.

"Come over here, I'm ready" she said calmly.

* * *

She sat in the middle of mountains of parchment scrolls and old books, only a tiny magical light permitting her to read. A sigh escaped her mouth, as she glanced at the clock on the wall. She still tried to figure out, how exactly the countless symbols and hands were supposed to indicate the current time. She knew, soon her companion would drop by for his daily short visit, but she just didn't know when.

Since a week they were at Tamaran in Stars former Knorfkas care, admitting them both to study some matters on their own and since a week, Beast Boy would spend his lunch break with her down in the royal library of Tamaran. He usually annoyed her to no end, but far away from Jump City, he gave her a feeling of being home, even while being this far away from the place she would call this. She gave another glance at the clock, still not getting any wiser, as the door opened and the green youngster entered with a plate of food. To her great surprise (and relieve, but she would never admit this part) he had managed very soon to provide them both with vegan food. She wasn't eager at all to try any alien animal and therefore rather thankful, that he had proclaimed, they both were vegan. The Tamaran natives usually didn't go too intensely for the vegetables, although they had a wide variety, Beast Boy soon had discovered.

"Yo, Rae! How's the reading proceeding?" he greeted her smiling brightly.

"Fine. I'm almost done. How about you? The language studying is going well?" she questioned, taking a vegetable-alien-burrito he handed her.

"Oh, you never guess! Today, a granny in the city asked me, if I was grown up around here, 'cause she could swear, I was a native considering my accent! Isn't it great?" he cheered and took a large bite from his own lunch.

Raven raised an eyebrow. "So you think, you are able to talk this well, so we can depart tomorrow?"

"Yep, positive! I can't wait to see Azarath! You'll have to show me everything there! Your favorite places, your home, your favorite food… We'll spend a lot of time and you'll speak Azarathian with me the whole time and…"

"Calm down or I'll drop you at the monks place and you won't see me until we'll go home…" she threatened. Still a ghost of a smile gave away, that she was looking forward to his plan.

"Aww, come on, Rae-Rae! You know you want to show me around! You've been cooped up here a whole week, me as your only company! You must be dying getting back to Azarath!" he taunted her playful.

With a friendly slap on the back of his head she stated in her usual monotone: "Don't call me that!"

"So you really want to show me around! Sweet! I won't leave your side a second!" he chuckled, rubbing the hurt spot. It didn't cause him much pain, but he liked to touch where she had touched him. Just to remember longer, that they had had skin contact.

A slight blush adorned her cheeks at his comment. Unlike here in Tamaran, they would spend a lot of time together in Azarath, and against her usual behavior she really was looking forward to it.

* * *

"Hold on! 'Gar' means 'loyal' in Ancient Azarathian and 'field' comes closest to the word 'servant'? So my name means in your language 'loyal servant'?!" he gasped at this revelation. They sat on a low stonewall, studying some language scrolls in the sunshine before they would be called for dinner.

"Correct."

"So when you and the others found out, you weren't primal thinking of the orange, fat cat who loves lasagna, but of a loyal servant?" he inquired further.

"Well…" she gave him a wicked smile and let him imagine the rest of himself.

Another week had passed, since they had left Earth for their language studies and Raven was astonished, how fast he really was adapting to his new environment again. Another week, and he would speak Ancient Arathian like a native too, he could already read it fluently, even if he didn't know the meaning of most of the words. Yet, she corrected herself, he didn't know them yet.

"Okay, let's put it straight! You are never ever allowed to tell the others about it! Ever! You have to swear!" he insisted with pleading eyes while he had grabbed her hand. Her heartbeat had fastened again, but with a big effort she was able to keep her blank face.

"Alright, I swear, I'll never mention the true Azarathian meaning of your name to any living soul on Earth. Happy?"

"Yeah… But you can't call me Garfield either! That would be… weird. So just call me Gar from now on, that isn't too awkward…" he mused, still holding her hand, but he was completely unaware of it, it seemed.

"I have to… why? I mean…" Raven asked flustered. No one in the tower called the other by their real names, except for everyone calling her Raven, but that was just because she got no other name. Wouldn't it be weird, if she suddenly would call him by his real name? Or a nickname of his real name?

"Come on Rae! You can't want to call me 'Beast Boy' now anymore! I mean, I'd always think of the Ancient Azaratian meaning, which would make no sense at all…"

"Just because it means 'un-nothing important-taunt'?" she asked stunned. Wasn't this a good description of him? He was a un-nothing, so he was everything (at least to her, but she wouldn't say that out loud of course), he was important and he was a taunt in many ways… So why bother?

"Yeah, exactly! Just… call me Gar, okay? I can live with being called 'loyal', that's not too bad!" he grinned.

"Fine… Whatever" she agreed indifferent, but somehow excited, to display such intimacy with him.

"And I'll go on calling you Rae!" he said softly.

She slightly blushed, as she wanted to know from him: "You… found out the meaning of my name too, I guess?"

"You could translate it with 'gem of darkness', so I figured, my nickname for you suits you way better than your birth name, 'cause I only call you 'gem' this way…" he mumbled to his feet, still she could hear him clearly.

"But why should you?" she wondered, making the low stonewall they sat on crack slightly.

"Because, you are precious to me, Rae" he said seriously, suddenly looking straight into her eyes.

Exactly in this moment, a monk called for them for dinner. Beast Boy got up right away, but she held him back.

"Wait… Gar" she said causing him turning around and looking directly at her again. Her knees went weak under his gaze but she gulped down her nervousness and added: "You… are precious to me too."

A bright smile adorned his features as he pulled her close and planted a kiss on her lips. The low stonewall next to them crumbled and was suddenly gone.

They both gasped, when he finally released her and he taunted in Ancient Azarathian: "Race ya to the table, Rae, my love!" Stunned she saw him disappear in a green blur, apparently he had turned into a falcon to win the race.

A smile grew on her own face as she summoned a black portal and she said, sure he still would hear her: "Beat you to the table, my love."

* * *

Cyborg and Robin sat at the kitchen table, planning their next prank for the changeling and his new associated since three days, discussing in their new favorite language Tamaran.

"What do you think of a glue bomb, since they spend so much time together?" the half-metal hero asked his companion.

"Sounds great! And on top of it we'll ask them first if they want to be glued for life!" the other one snickered.

Soon they would have reached their goal, they were sure of it. What could stop them now?

The sudden question – in Tamaran – of the green teen behind them made them jump to their feet.

"Aren't you tired of those language related pranks?" he said with a wicked grin before he turned from the shocked boys to the empath next to him.

In Ancient Azarathian, what sounded to the other two like riddles, he asked her: "What do you think if we glue them for a while?" Like she had thought he was able to speak her native language fluently after an other week and they had come back onto the same day they had left before.

"Thought you'd never ask" she smirked in the same language, "Hey, guys, would you mind if we glue you? Staying silent means agreement…"

Cyborg and Robin exchanged quizzical and worried looks. They knew they were screwed no matter what they did because somehow, they had figured out how to turn the tables in their favor.

"I don't hear them oppose, Rae…" Beast Boy stated playfully. She returned his current smile, snapped her fingers and cast a simple spell. Before the other boys knew they were glued together at their hips.

"What the…?!" their leader stated.

"Why did you do this?" Cyborg bellowed very annoyed.

"We asked you if you would mind to be glued together and you didn't object. You should have if you didn't want to…" the green teen shrugged and winked at Raven.

"You're just getting some of your own medicine. Hope you like the taste of it. And you two should go and apologize to Starfire" she added.

Ignoring the loud protests of their friends they turned around and peacefully walked out of the room while holding hands. They were persuaded that there wouldn't be other language related pranks towards them and Raven felt the content feeling of being in control of her powers again now she no longer denied her feelings.


End file.
